“The FAA must lead the world on safety. And the FAA must build that workforce that is going to help us lead around the globe.”

TRANSCRIPTS AND VIDEOS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, questioned FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen today on the status and implementation of aviation safety reforms required in the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act (ACSAA), which Congress passed following the tragic 737 MAX crashes. Sen. Cantwell emphasized the need for transparency to ensure the FAA is meeting key deadlines, including workforce reviews to build a technical workforce.

“We are here today to measure the FAA’s progress in implementing important safety reforms for aircraft accountability safety in the act that was passed, following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that claimed the lives of 346 people,” said Sen. Cantwell. “We have seen near misses and incidents that remind us that aviation safety requires constant vigilance and constant effort.”

“The FAA has yet to complete a workforce review of aircraft certification staff to identify and address any shortfalls in the agency’s expertise. This is foundational. Emerging aviation technologies and future advances will only continue to press the FAA,” Sen. Cantwell continued. “The FAA must lead the world on safety. And the FAA must build that workforce that is going to help us lead around the globe.”

Watch Sen. Cantwell’s Opening Statement

Following the two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that claimed the lives of 346 people, Sen. Cantwell wrote and negotiated comprehensive bipartisan, bicameral aviation safety legislation to respond to problems revealed during the Committee’s extensive investigations of the 737 MAX, and the legislation was signed into law on December 27, 2020.

This Friday will be the 4-year anniversary of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash. Sen. Cantwell recognized the impact the families of crash victims have made, stating that “because of your support and critical input, the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act is now law.”

The senator also took a moment to recognize members of the inaugural class of the Samya Rose Stumo National Air Grant Fellowship Program: “This program named after Samya Stumo -- who was 24 and lost her life in the March 10 accident crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 -- reminds us why we need an aviation technical workforce on the Hill and throughout Washington, D.C. These talented young, technical experts with aerospace backgrounds will be assisting the FAA and Congress with meeting the complex technical challenges that we face in this field.”

Sen. Cantwell with new fellows and the fellowship program director

The ACSAA called for aircraft safety and certification reforms, including strengthening FAA direct oversight of aircraft certification, implementing integrated systems analyses of new and derivative aircraft, requiring aircraft manufacturers to disclose technological changes to their aircraft and implementing new safety reporting requirements and whistleblower protections.

A Cantwell-provision in the law required new safety reporting and data so the FAA and Congress can stay ahead of emerging trends impacting safety. During the hearing, Sen. Cantwell asked Acting Administrator Nolen about any emerging trends in aviation safety related to service difficulty reports that document failures, malfunctions and defects with in-service aircraft. The FAA must review these specific reports, determine whether there is a widespread safety issue or trend, and then mandate correction of any safety problems across the fleet.

“…[T]he underlying safety legislation said we want better trend lines,” Sen. Cantwell said. “We want a trend report every year on what are the emerging trends to be concerned about, and your safety service difficulty reports are already a system in place. But do you see any concerning trend lines, particularly about the MAX or any other planes in the marketplace today?”

“I'm not seeing, personally, any trend that sort of gives me pause or gives me you know, sort of raises any red flags,” answered Nolen. “What I do expect [from] them, what will be to all of our benefit, is as we see Safety Management Systems mature [so will] a net level of transparency.”

Sen. Cantwell further pressed the need to build a skilled and technical workforce, explaining that the law requires that the FAA hire “sophisticated people who are working to understand the technology at the beginning of the certification process.”

“You feel like that this group that you now have, on the technical side, is providing that level of technical expertise up and down?” she added.

“I do indeed,” said Nolen. “I will say it is our expectation now, and I think I commend the Congress for this right as part of the act, that we're getting all of this information and make sure that we've got it all upfront. That we understand at the very outset of either design for new type design or an amended type design, that that that information is there.”

“What we are seeing via these systems safety analysis that our teams are now doing, this again giving us a better degree of transparency there, and we're going through those very purposely to make sure we get it right. That we don't have a repeat.”

In January 2023, Sen. Cantwell sent a letter to the Department of Transportation Inspector General Eric Soskin asking for an independent review of the FAA’s implementation and compliance with congressional requirements established in the ACSAA.